Estate Mandahl Homestead Community – St. Thomas VI

Description

The Works Progress Administration and the Work Projects Administration established, maintained, and operated homestead communities at Estate Mandahl on St. Thomas. The work was funded by a $20,400 emergency relief grant (1933-1940) to the Government of the Virgin Islands.

The 1939 Annual Report of the Governor of the Virgin Islands describes the outcomes of homesteading on St. Thomas as such: “Fifty-three homesteaders occupy 80 plots on two Federal homestead projects in St. Thomas on which they have contracted to purchase 609 acres. These projects are largely of a subsistence homestead character since no agricultural cash crop other than vegetables and fruit for local consumption is grown in St. Thomas. The perennial difficulty of supplying management and superintendence of these projects was relieved at the beginning of the year by an allotment from Farm Security Administration funds. This allotment expired on June 30 and again there is need for funds to carry on the management and administration of this 20-year program. Representations have been made to the Farm Security Administration, which was established to administer rural resettlement programs, to have that agency take over the various homestead projects in the Virgin Islands whose operation has been successful and hopeful. That agency has already established an office in the Virgin Islands and is well qualified to administer them.”